


Seeking the Ephemeral

by scorpionmother



Category: Penny Dreadful (TV)
Genre: Explicit Sexual Content, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-03
Updated: 2016-04-03
Packaged: 2018-05-30 23:07:11
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,236
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6445942
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scorpionmother/pseuds/scorpionmother
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The 'family' are destitute and it is up to Ethan to enable them to keep up the façade of respectability and save them from the derision of the upper classes.  A violent encounter however leads to a much wanted and pleasurable episode with the young man that has been plaguing his thoughts.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Seeking the Ephemeral

**Author's Note:**

> Firstly I'd like to say that the idea for this story is not my own i.e. that Ethan has taken to fighting to keep the family together. I have to give that to ShadowsLament's fantastic story You Took a Shot. It Took You Down. I hope you don't mind me 'borrowing' it and if anyone out there hasn't read it I advise you to as it is fantastically atmospheric and descriptive.
> 
> Also I have to thank my darling friend Oerbalzalith for betaing for me - I just hope I made Victor sexy enough :)
> 
> Victor's quote is from the show - the one at the end is from Shakespeare's The Tempest

He hadn’t been expecting the knife. The fact that he’d avoided any more than a jagged slash across his chest had been due mainly to his awakening wolf instinct clawing ever closer to the surface, just two nights before the full moon. He’d known it was dangerous to agree to fight so close to his time but they needed the money and the winnings offered had been substantial. Since the catastrophic loss of most of Sir Malcolm’s fortune in yet another failed expedition to find the source of the Nile, money had been tight and he’d had to fall back on his wits and his fists to keep his family of miscreants from appearing as destitute as they were. In the back alleys of the roughest parts of the stinking city were hidden, in plain sight of those who knew how to find them, men who’d fight for prize money and those ready to bet on the bloody outcome. 

He’d lived by his fists before and had always gained a kind of sick enjoyment from feeling flesh and bone bruise beneath them. The spray of hot blood from a split lip, the pulping of an eye had always been a keen pleasure. Even the blows he took, and he made sure he took them, the showman in him wanting to give value for the money spent by the punters that emptied their pocket books to feed their fantasies of violence from behind the safety of a rope, had become no more than a ‘perk’ of the job. A black eye or gashed eye-brow meant more financial gain in the long run.

But the knife had been something else, a potential disaster that could have kept him from the game for weeks, months, even forever and then what would happen? He knew Sir Malcolm’s pride stopped him from acknowledging where the money came from but his gratitude, although never articulated, was evident. Vanessa and Victor brought in what they could, her from the sale of stories written for the Penny Dreadfuls that had become so very popular following the Ripper murders and he from his medical services, but it was Ethan’s money that kept the roof over their heads, the food on the table and the brittle charade of normality and wealth. On the odd occasion when the fight had been particularly brutal or he’d lost and with it money they could barely afford, he had considered leaving. Finding a war, picking a side and losing himself in less justified bloodshed. But there’d always been an excuse to stay and now it was becoming harder and harder not to. 

The attraction hadn’t been immediate. In fact at the beginning he’d felt nothing stronger but a mild dislike for the young doctor with his pedantic ways, his inability to accept even the things that were before his eyes, the arrogance that came with the assumption of a superior education. He knew that he’d dismissed him as a mindless thug, a gun slinger with little more than fucking and fighting on his mind. But need and circumstances had forced them into an uneasy comradeship, facilitated the requirement to spend long moments in each other’s presence. Slowly almost implicitly they’d settled into accustomed familiarity and a kind of circling friendship although lacking the ease he’d always felt with the majority of other men. But recently he’d felt something, like a scratching awareness, a sensitivity of conscience and skin when they had occupied the same space. Eyes meeting and holding for just a fraction longer than necessary, something unspoken but unwilling to be broached. Victor Frankenstein had always been an observer and all of them in that house had come under his studied scrutiny, his cool eyes moving over their human frames judging their frailties seemingly gathering information but for him it had become more. He’d begun to bask in that observance to enjoy the glide of those almost colourless orbs over his visage and form which seemed to him to happen more frequently and with a growing confidence, imagining them turning from looks into touches of those inquisitive, clean, delicate fingers. And yet, despite the indications he said nothing, made no approach and the doctor did nothing more than observe.

Earlier that day Vanessa and Sir Malcolm had left to spend some time at her cottage on the moor. The sultry, dirt filled heat of the summer had seemed to sap the strength from the older man as if the sins of his African conquests had somehow caught up with him and he’d seen the concern for the explorer building in her every word and gesture. She’d installed Sir Malcolm in the carriage and then come back to bid her good byes. He hadn’t heard her words to Victor her arms wrapped tight around him. He could see the genuine affection between them untainted by anything other than pure friendship. Whatever she’d said had caused a reaction though, Victor’s mouth had curled into a knowing smile a faint blush staining his pale cheeks before both sets of blue eyes had held each other for a long second before they turned to him. He moved easily into her embrace dwarfing her frame with his, drinking in her wild, fresh scent, his face buried into the rich, darkness of her hair. God she was everything he’d ever thought he’d wanted until the younger man, who’d moved away up the stair, had entered his life bearing a bloody knife in his skilled hands. Slowly she drew back her hand raising to cup his cheek her fingers tips grazing the roughness of his beard.

“Look after each other.” Her mouth stretched into a smile and then without warning she rose up upon her toes, fastened her mouth, for a lingering moment on his and then she’d extracted herself from his arms and turned towards the carriage. In a moment she was gone and he was left with the feeling that he’d missed something very important.

The day had dragged. Victor had left the house without a word immediately Vanessa and Sir Malcolm had departed and had not returned before Ethan himself had had to leave to make his way to one of the more unsavoury establishments but where the pay outs were substantial. He’d been hoping if the young doctor had been back in time, he could have persuaded him to accompany him. Something in him, a sense of masculine pride had wanted to show off his skill, to try and impress him with his fighting prowess. Sitting on the side of his bed hindsight afforded him a clearer view and he thanked God that he’d not been there to witness the bloody violence that had ensued. 

The fight had been vicious and brutal. His giant of an opponent, who topped even him by 3 inches, savage with blood lust had been arrogant in his expectation of an easy win. Ethan had played him, quickly getting into a rhythm of blows and counter blows and rapidly the brute of a man had tired against the onslaught. Knowing that victory was only punches away he felt his own concentration slip as images of the young doctor’s eyes on him in the hazy heat of that morning filled his mind and the mystery of Vanessa’s comment to him continued to peak his interest. The knife had been drawn and only instinct had saved him from more damage. The rage of the beast inside him so close to the surface had broken loose and he’d had to be pulled away, the man’s face reduced to so much meat under the pummelling of his fists. At first he thought they’d be an argument as to his payment, both the owner of the club and the bookmaker had seemed reluctant until they’d seen something feral in in eyes and been happy to pay him just to see him leave.

Carefully he began to ease the material of his shirt away from the wound on his chest. The blood had clotted quickly but the material had stuck to the wound and as he tore the blooded cloth from the skin it opened the cut afresh, blood seeping in rivulets down onto his corded abdomen. He began to apply pressure to the gash using the ruined shirt.

“Keep the pressure on but it looks like that is going to need stitching.” He looked up to see the young doctor standing at his door his face intransient and his voice neutral. He couldn’t also help notice his state of undress. Although it was hardly surprising due to the heat of the evening Ethan had never seen Victor with so little clothing. He was wearing only a white shirt, untucked and open at the neck the sleeved rolled up to past his elbows, a pair of trousers and nothing else, even his feet were bare. He looked barely old enough to be holding in his hand his black Gladstone bag but Ethan was confident in his skill having benefited from it first-hand. After the filth and squalor of where he’d spent the last couple of hours he looked clean and fresh and he felt a stab of warm desire rush through him. Without further conversation he padded over, placed the bag on the floor at his feet and moved to the wash stand bringing with him, after pouring from the jug, a bowl of water and some towels.

“Let me look.” Kneeling between Ethan’s legs he pulled the shirt from his grasp and with a wetted towel dabbed at the wound. Ethan watched aware of the hitch of his own breathing as the dexterous fingers pinched the edges of the wound together with one hand as with the other he wiped the soft towel gently down over the swell of his pectoral muscles and onto his stomach removing the blood that had dried there. He was suddenly so aware of the younger man, the clean, salt smell, the touch of those skilled fingers on his skin, the nearness of him. The fact that his mouth with those sinfully full lips were only inches from his flesh and that only thin layers of cloth separated him from the doctor’s naked body. The very fact he was kneeling between his thighs was enough to start a procession of fantasies, of that mouth swallowing his shaft deep into a warm wet cavern, the stroke of a languid tongue along his length, the faint graze of white teeth on the head. Christ he needed to get a grip on his arousal that Victor would only need to glance down to see ample evidence of. The eyes however did not stray downwards but looked directly into his with a cool confidence that he almost found obscene. He’d never considered Victor Frankenstein to be anything other than a virgin, unskilled in the carnal pursuits but that measured, calculated look belied his instinct. This was a man in control of his desires, a man aware of the affect he was having on him and enjoying it. If he was a virgin then he fucking knew what he was doing and wouldn’t be one for long if he had anything to do with it. His own hands gripped the sheets by the side of him so that he had purchase on something, something other than the doctor’s crisp hair which he longed to fist and push down towards his semi-hard cock that he was fighting to get control of.

The doctor hunkered back on his heels his knowing eyes never leaving Ethan’s which he was sure burnt with an intensity that could have seared meat but if the younger man was affected by his lust it was well hidden apart from a wry smile that curved one side of his mouth. He broke the stare only to look down into his bag which he reached into.

“So Mr Chandler. Are you ready for me?” it was almost a purr. 

For a moment he felt like all the air in the room had been sucked out, his mouth went dry and pure lust knifed through into his stomach. Christ what could be read into that single comment could fuel a week of fantasies about the younger man that would have him fucking into the tight fist of his calloused palm. But when Victor knelt back up in his hand was a needle threaded with black silk.

“This might sting a little.” The gaze was dropped and his head dropped down as he set to work closing the wound, the hand that wasn’t stitching pressed hard against the top of the muscle. The suturing seemed to take forever in regard to the ‘sting’ being exceptionally painful but due to other reasons, no time at all. All too soon he realised that those hands on his body would be removed, the hot breathe that caressed so close to his skin, surely closer than was entirely necessary for the operation would cease and then what? His mind spun with ways of remaining within touching distance of the younger man but past grabbing him and stuffing his tongue down his throat he was beyond ideas. Suddenly he felt the touch of more than breath against his skin and looking down found those full lips that only minutes before he’d envisioned sliding over the tight skin of his cock against the flesh next to the wound. He barely was able to stifle a groan as he felt Victor’s wet tongue swirl round the thread that was holding his skin together the tip drifting over his flesh and then the pull of teeth as he snapped the thread.

He looked up then the thread still hanging from his mouth which he then pulled out over the plush of his bottom lip. “Sorry forgot my scissors.” 

Then gently he ran just the tip of his forefinger over the neat line of his stiches before moving his hands down to explore the jagged scar that marred his skin just above the waist band of Ethan’s trousers and for a moment Ethan saw white.

“I don’t think my stitching will scar quite like this one. It’s such a shame that we cannot go through life the precious envelope of our skin undamaged. Scars can be so ugly so often marring the perfection of flesh but in your case I find them quite an exception. Maybe one day I could make a study of them?” And as the young doctor caught his gaze again his fingers just for a moment grazed fractionally under the cloth that covered his waist. 

But before Ethan could move or say anything he’d stood up and the almost sense of bereavement was like a blow. He felt himself reach out grabbing at the skilled, clean white fingers those fingers that he ached to have on him again.

“Don’t stop.” He managed to croak out of a throat that felt congested with want.

“What can you mean Mr. Chandler? Do you have further cuts that need stitching or maybe other hurts that need tending?” and then pointedly the young man looked down at the straining bulge in Ethan’s trousers.

Slowly he extracted his fingers from Ethan’s grasp and to his dismay turned away.

“I’m afraid before I venture further… I will need some kind of fortification. Do you mind if I help myself to a drink?” and without waiting for an answer he moved over to the desk. Ethan sat back on the bed against the pillows and shut his eyes for a moment hearing the clink of glasses and the glug of liquid as it was poured. He was totally unprepared for what had unfolded so far between them. Although his interest had been piqued before this new Victor was something he’d never expected to experience. Sexy was never a word he’d equated with him but it was a certainly something that was radiating off the younger man. He opened his eyes at the touch of a cool glass against his chest to find him leaning over looking down at him, his eyes in the dim light of the room almost black. As Ethan took the glass he took a mouthful of the liquid from his own and walked over to the window and leant against the sill his eyes not leaving Ethan’s. Shit he must know how delectable he looked against the glass the moonlight that filtered in the window highlighted the lean plains of his fine body making the white shirt almost transparent. Ethan’s mouth went dry again. God he wanted him, wanted him naked and open, eyes glazed with need, lips raw with his kisses.

Almost as if he’d read his thoughts Victor placed the glass on the window sill, turned and began to unbutton the shirt he almost wore looking out of the window the entire time as if he were alone.

“I don’t know about you but I’m finding it a tad warm him here.”

The fine linen dropped from his shoulders and languidly he raised his arms over his head causing the muscles under the skin of his back to pull and flex. Then he bent deliberately placing his hands on the sill giving Ethan an unfettered view of his back and firm buttocks outlined perfectly by his tight trousers.

The growl that tore from Ethan’s mouth was almost animalistic and he tossed down the warm liquor as Victor turned his head to look at him over his slightly freckled shoulder his eyebrow quirked.

“Sorry Mr. Chandler did you say something?”

His lust mixed with the barely contained want of the beast inside him almost had him off the bed. He imagined dominating him, trapping him between the hard glass and his even harder body, stripping his trousers down and with only the briefest of preparations pounding into the tight, willing arse offered to him. But the man in him wanted more. He wanted to fuck him yes, but more than that. To show him what pleasure was, to have him gasping with ecstasy wanting, needing, aching to come back for more. 

He couldn’t get the words out his tongue felt thick in his dry mouth.

Slowly the doctor turned and made his way to the side of the bed his fingers finding his jaw brushing them lightly over the roughness of his facial hair.

“Well it seems like you had quite a scrap Mr. Chandler. I trust your opponent came off worse?” His voice was soft and his fingers moved to trace the up to his eyebrow that had been opened earlier that evening. Ethan winced slightly as the finger brushed over the scab that had formed. 

He watched almost mesmerised as Victor turned, bent again presenting his perfect arse whilst picking up the wetted towel that had been left on the floor by the bed.

“Here, let me clean that up for you.” And then within a heartbeat Victor was up on the bed sitting straddling his thighs. With gentle strokes he used the corner of the towel to dab at the wound on his eyebrow and the other abrasions on his face.

Victor’s hands and concentration seemed fully focused upon his wounded face but the rest of his body seemed somehow intent on teasing Ethan as much as possible. He did not sit still but gently moved forward and backwards against his thighs causing the course fabric of the front of his trousers to rub against his engorged shaft making it twitch and pulse. Ethan’s senses were full of him the way he looked, his scent and the feel of his body as it touched him. It was too much for him to stand and although he was pretty sure that the doctor was engaged in seduction he had to know for sure. 

“Wait.” And he grabbed the towel out of Victor’s hands encircling the delicate wrists with his hands.

“Look at me.” He demanded in a voice that brooked no argument and Victor’s pale eyes regarded him with a look he still found unreadable. “I don’t know if you know what you are doing doc but let me tell you that you’re playing a dangerous game. Unless you want something to happen between us and you can’t be so naïve as not to know what I mean you’ve got one minute to get off my lap, pick up your bag and leave this room cos if you don’t, I will have you.”   
For a moment as Victor drew back and his eyes narrowed he thought he’d misjudged the situation and the icy fingers of embarrassment crawled up his insides. He was just about to buck him off his lap and physically remove the temptation he was so he could service himself, when he saw the tip of Victor’s tongue slip out of his mouth and lick over that full bottom lip that he’d imagined biting and which caused his cock to twitch inside the confines of his trousers. And then without a word he began to run his fingers down Ethan’s chest brushing through the fine hair, down his chorded stomach until he placed his hand possessively over that straining crotch and rubbed with his palm smiling down at the man he that he seemed to know he had totally in his thrall and with that gave his answer.

“Shit doc.” Ethan bucked under the friction of the cloth against his shaft eager to feel a slick, naked palm fist him. But Victor seemed in no hurry hardly changing the pressure before he bent down, his eyes now locked on Ethan’s lips. As their mouths found each other Ethan felt his lower lip pulled gently into warm heat the gentle suckling turning his stomach liquid and then the questioning flick of a tongue that became bolder as he opened his mouth and allowed Victor access to it. 

Soon however, the gentle play of lips and tongue was not enough. Passion was released as their kisses became stronger, fiercer tongues duelling for dominance, teeth nipping, breathe coming in gasps Victor’s hands maintaining the rubbing pressure that had him squirming trapped by the weight of the man straddling him. However before it became too much he felt the nimble fingers working on the button of his fly and the pressure release as his erection sprung free. 

It was then he used his superior weight to shift their positions him twisting so the younger man was suddenly laid beneath him trapped and unable to move looking up at him, eyes as he’d wanted full of dark indecent want, his mouth red and swollen. 

“So Mr. Chandler it seems that now you have me. So what do you intend to do with me?” 

Ethan laughed then for the first time smiling down into the beautiful face beneath him before laying his mouth closer to the younger man’s ear.

“First I’m gonna take your cock in my mouth and suck it until you cum and then…” and he bit gently on the delicate ear lobe, “I’m going open you up and fuck you till you see the stars.” 

Slowly Victor turned his head licking along the outer rim of Ethan’s ears before huskily murmuring, “Umm I was hoping you’d say that.” 

With hands trembling with suppressed want he stripped the doctor’s trousers from his long limbs and removed his own. With as much care as he was able to he ran his hands along the sleek, pure lines of the young man’s beautiful body, glorying in its lack of scars or blemishes his eyes following the play of his hands, watching as the blood came to the surface under his ministrations. Finally he could avoid the lure of the satin under his palms and fingers no longer lowering his face to kiss and lick his way down from collar bone to hip, all the time fascinated by the breathy sighs that sounded from his lover’s mouth. As he reached the prominent hip bone he grazed his teeth over it feeling the shuddering of Victor’s body as his hand then found and enfolded the rock hard shaft that lay heavy between his sprayed thighs. A gasp tore from the doctor’s mouth has he began the long firm strokes from base to head circling his thumb each time over the velvet of his head at the zenith of that and every other stroke. Soon the gasps had become moans and now it was Victor’s turn to beg bucking his hips off the bed his hands twisted in the sheets under him. 

“Ethan please, I need….., I want……, please…...” 

 

Ethan knew exactly what he needed and didn’t want to deny him. Slowly he lowered his mouth over the head and down into the warm, wetness of his mouth hearing the moans turn into a strangled gasp of pleasure and the feel of those hands now twisted in his hair just the right side of painful. Using his tongue to gain more suction against the underside of the source of all Victor’s pleasure he sucked first slowly and then with an increasing rhythm working him deeper into his mouth slipping his calloused fingers between his legs to caress his balls.

“Fuck”. The expletive tore from the doctor’s mouth his hips bucked erratically off the bed and Ethan felt his mouth filled with the hot evidence of the younger man’s pleasure.

His own need was building but he knew that he’d had to go carefully. Extracting Victor’s penis from his mouth he spat the ejaculate into his palm coating his fingers thickly with the warm stickiness. Gently he pushed the doctors legs up so his knees were bent the soles of his feet against the sheets. He glanced up into his eyes the pupils so distended with pleasure they were almost black. Slowly he slipped his fingers between the rounded globes of his buttocks finding the quivering pucker he so longed to breach. Almost tenderly he spread what coated his fingers round the tight opening before slowly pushing a finger inside. He felt the young man stiffen as another gasp ripped from his mouth.

“It’s okay just try to relax darlin’, let me do this for you.” and as he spoke he felt him unclench his muscles slightly relaxing into the penetration. A second finger soon joined it and once Victor had relaxed enough around this invasion finally a third, curving round to rub gently at the bundle of nerves inside that had the young doctor gasping anew and pushing down against the fingers that had suddenly become the centre of his world. Gently at first but with increasing speed and pressure he pushed his slick fingers in and out of the man beneath him, every time hitting the spot that made him moan with want meanwhile using his other hand to coat his own cock with a mixture of the cum and his own saliva pumping it lazily in anticipation of what was to come. 

As his fingers fucked Victor’s arse open he looked down at him his skin gleaming with sweat, his chest heaving, his mouth open glorious moans issuing from it and he knew he could wait no longer to fully own him. He withdrew his fingers completely and quickly then so as not to undo the good they’d done opening the younger man up, grasping his slick shaft he placed the head of it against the stretched rim and pushed against it stopping as he heard a hiss, allowing his lover to adjust to the invasion and then as he felt again the internal muscles give, he pushed fully in. 

He could hardly remember a time when being buried deep inside another had ever been so good and felt so right and stopped just for a moment to relish the feeling of utter pleasure. Then carefully he eased out then pushed back in again and again increasing the pressure each time trying hard to hit that spot that made Victor squirm and gasp underneath him and each time feeling his body relax a little more around him. Soon Victor was raising his buttocks off the bed gripping with hard hands at Ethan’s back and shoulders scratching his nails into his flanks his gasps becoming breathy, erratic moans that displayed his intense pleasure. As they found a mutual rhythm Ethan took his hands up to cling to the bars of the bed head and with that purchase began to fuck Victor harder practically pulling out on each stroke before plunging back in intent on providing as much pleasure as possible for the both of them.

All too soon he felt the pressure in his balls start to build and knew that his climax was only moments away. He released the bars with one of his hands bringing it down between their bodies to grasp Victor’s cock. With only a few pumps of his hand he felt him stiffen and his hot cum coat their stomachs and then shockingly his teeth bit deep into the flesh of his shoulder. The beast inside him roared to feel himself marked like this and then pleasure crashed over him, his own cries of rapture joining the young doctor’s and then glorious, blessed relief as he came with a shuddering intensity he’d never experienced before.

It seemed like hours later but it was only seconds that he found himself collapsed on top of the young doctor his face buried into the crook of his neck breathing in his sweet sweat feeling the other’s fingers tangled again in his hair. Barely wanting to break the contact of their skins but conscious that his bulk could be crushing the smaller man he rolled off him reaching over the snag towel left by the side of the bed. Quickly he cleaned himself off and then with a tenderness that belied him he wiped the soft towel over the dewy skin of Victor’s stomach. His breathing had settled and his eyes were closed but opened as he swept the towel between his legs removing the outcome of their duel pleasure.

He looked beautifully exhausted, his mouth and skin bearing evidence of his touch but there was more and for a moment Ethan was unable to put his finger on it. And then it came. For the first time since meeting him, Victor Frankenstein looked happy and his heart leapt in realisation that it was due to him.

Without further thought he pulled him into his arms pressing a kiss of almost bruising intensity against his new lover’s mouth while a thought coalesced in his mind.

Pulling back he looked deep into Victor’s eyes and asked.

“What did Vanessa say to you before she left darlin’? It’s been bugging me all day.”

He was surprised to see the same blush that had painted his cheeks that morning heightening his colour further but he smiled up and replied.

“She reminded me about something I’d once remarked to her the fact that - man does not live only in the empirical world. We must seek the ephemeral or why live? She then told me to seek it with you.” 

“And have you found it?”

Victor paused for a moment before bringing his hand up to lay it against Ethan’s heart. 

“I only know that in this moment I care nothing for the empirical or ephemeral only that ‘I'd never want any companion in the world but you.’”

**Author's Note:**

> First venture in to M/M - have dabbled slightly before but thought I'd see if I could do it. I hope it has been successful.
> 
> As always kudos and comments are appreciated x


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